Geneva, 5 March 2025 (WHO)* – In the past two decades, tuberculosis (TB) prevention, testing and treatment services have saved more than 79 million lives – averting approximately 3.65 million deaths last year alone from the world’s deadliest infectious disease.
This progress has been driven by critical foreign aid especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly from USAID. However, abrupt funding cuts now threaten to undo these hard-won gains, putting millions – especially the most vulnerable – at grave risk.
(UN News)* — UN humanitarians on warned that the continued closure of key border crossings into Gaza is putting civilian lives at risk, just as they begin to recover from months of war, deprivation and hunger.
UN News | Large parts of Gaza have been reduced to rubble.
Speaking to journalists at UN Headquarters in New York, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the Kerem Shalom, Zikim and Erez crossings had remained closed for cargo for the third consecutive day, severely restricting the flow of humanitarian supplies into the devastated enclave.
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 3 2025 (IPS)* –The United Nations, in its nearly 80-year-old history, is on the verge of fighting for its survival, as the Trump administration continues with its threats to drastically cut funding and pull out of several UN agencies which provide mostly humanitarian assistance worldwide.
President Donald Trump addresses the General Assembly’s 75th sessions back in September 2020. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
(UN News)* — The UN Special Envoy for Syria on Tuesday [] condemned ongoing Israeli attacks inside Syrian territory and continuing violations in and around the demilitarised zone created as part of a 1974 ceasefire agreement.
UN Photo/Gernot Payer | Polish peacekeepers patrol as part of the UNDOF observer force which supervises the area of separation between Israel and Syria (file).
Geir Pedersen said in a statement that “such actions are unacceptable and risk further destabilising an already fragile situation, heightening regional tension and undermining efforts toward de-escalation and a sustainable political transition.”
(UN News)* — Israel’s move to prevent all aid from entering the Gaza Strip after Hamas reportedly refused to accept a plan to continue with phase one of the fragile ceasefire has had an immediate impact, including a 100-fold increase in the price of flour and vegetables.
That’s according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, which said on Monday [] that the Kerem Shalom, Erez and Zikim crossing closures means that vital humanitarian assistance, including thousands of tents, can’t be delivered to civilians in need.
(UN News)* — Synthetic drugs are rapidly transforming the global drug trade, fuelling an escalating public health crisis, according to the UN administered International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
In its 2024 Annual Report, released on Tuesday [], the INCB explains that unlike plant-based drugs, these substances can be made anywhere, without the need for large-scale cultivation, making them easier and cheaper for traffickers to produce and distribute.
(UN News)* — Myanmar is mired in one of the world’s worst human rights crises, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on said, describing conditions there as “a litany of human suffering.”
Addressing the Human Rights Council on Friday, he detailed the devastating toll of the ongoing conflict and economic collapse on civilians – many of whom have been displaced by the fighting.
Earlier in the day the Council discussed the deteriorating situation in South Sudan, having heard a report from rights investigators serving on the Commission on Human Rights in the country.
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Feb 19 2024 (IPS)* –– Imperialism continues to dominate the world. Globalisation is losing to some of its anti-theses, but imperialism still rules, increasingly by law, albeit in changing even contradictory ways.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Hence, we live in challenging times. It is often difficult to see the main challenges we face as there seem to be so many.
Also, the new or the unusual gains far more attention than what appears commonplace.
Power and empire Our histories and cultures are often quite different despite our common, but varied experiences of foreign domination, even rule.
Such power involves varied mixes of socioeconomic and political relations, involving governance and even the rule of law.
Our world has seen empires and imperialism for over two millennia, at least from before the time of Jesus Christ in Palestine, who had to deal with the satraps of the Roman empire then.
(UN News)* — There were just under 150 incidents of illegal or unauthorised activity involving nuclear and other radioactive material reported last year, according to the international nuclear energy watchdog’s monitoring database tracking these incidents.
New data released on Friday [] from the UN-backed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reveals that while the overall number remains consistent with previous years, the continued incidents of trafficking and radioactive contamination cases raises concerns over nuclear security.
Syria, 28 February 2025 – Around the world, Ramadan is a time to come together as a family. It represents the warmth of home, sharing a good meal and enjoying a variety of food.
As Ramadan arrives, millions of Syrians prepare to once again mark the occasion with the little resources they have. Photo: IOM Türkiye
But for millions of Syrians still displaced 14 years after the conflict began, this Ramadan comes with the heavy burden of poverty and hunger.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 